In a lengthy and rainy defensive affair, No. 6-seeded Kansas defeated No. 3-seeded West Virginia in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament on Saturday.
Kansas defeated No. 11-seeded Arizona State 2-1 to advance to the quarterfinals match against WVU, who had a bye. During the regular season, West Virginia defeated Kansas 3-2 on Sept. 22 in Morgantown.
WVU goalkeeper Mackenzie Smith had eight saves in the game, while Kansas keeper Sophie Dawe had three.
The Jayhawks fired a multitude of shots early. They had five shots, four on goal, before WVU took their first shot.
It was a scoreless first period. The Mountaineers had just one shot on goal, while Kansas had five. KU’s Lexi Watts took four shots, three on goal.
The Jayhawks committed four fouls in the first 45, while WVU had one. They both had two corner-kick opportunities.
In the 59th minute, West Virginia’s Lisa Schoppl was given a yellow card. Another yellow card was assessed to a Mountaineer in the 72nd minute, Taylor White.
The Mountaineers took more shots in the second period, but it was to no avail. At the end of regulation, it was still a scoreless contest.
WVU was unable to take advantage of free kicks as Kansas committed six more fouls in the second period.
The first overtime also was scoreless. KU took three shots, only one on goal, while the Mountaineers didn’t get a shot off.
In the first minute of the second overtime, Kansas finally got one past Smith, defeating West Virginia 1-0. Watts scored it on her seventh shot of the game, putting away the Mountaineers.
The Jayhawks kept WVU defenders busy in overtime and dominated offensive possession time. They took five shots in overtime, while West Virginia took none.
Kansas will play No. 2-seeded Texas Tech on Wednesday in the semi-finals.
